Flourishing programs in 80+ disciplines. A vibrant Christian mission. $50 million
in new campus construction. A 2014 Division III national championship. 95% placement
within 6 months of graduation. There’s never been a better time to consider Hope College.

As a member of the MIAA and NCAA Division III associations, Hope College sponsors
22 varsity sports for men and women. The college is home to the 2014 NCAA Division
III National Championship women’s volleyball team.

Professor Emeritus John W Hollenbach Dies

Breadcrumb Navigation

Hope College emeritus professor and academic administrator John W. Hollenbach died
on Sunday, April 19, 1998, at his home.

Hollenbach, 85, was a member of the Hope faculty from 1945 to 1978. He retired as professor emeritus of English. He stayed active at Hope in the two decades following his retirement. For example, he served as executive secretary of the presidential search committee that selected President John H. Jacobson, who became Hope's 10th president in 1987. He also played a leading role in the founding of the "Hope Academy of Senior Professionals" (HASP) in May of 1988, serving as the organization's first president. Based at the college and designed to present intellectual, cultural and service opportunities for area retirees, HASP currently has approximately 380 members. "John Hollenbach was a professor and administrator of great distinction at Hope College," Jacobson said. "Even after his retirement from the faculty, he remained active in the life of the college through his leadership in the Hope Academy of Senior Professionals. He was much loved by generations of students, by colleagues and friends." Hope College presented him with an honorary degree, an L.H.D., on May 8, 1988. Hollenbach was born Feb. 10, 1913. The second of four children, Hollenbach attended the Allentown, Pa., public schools, graduating in 1930 as salutatorian of his high school class. He earned a bachelor's degree from Muhlenberg College in Allentown in 1934, a master's degree from Columbia University in 1935 and a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin in 1941. He taught high school English in High Bridge, N.J., for two years after earning his master's degree. He was an assistant instructor of English at the University of Wisconsin from 1937 to 1941, and an assistant professor of English at Northeastern State Teacher's College in Kirksville, Mo., from 1941 to 1945, immediately prior to coming to Hope. He married Winifred Lohman, who survives him, on Aug. 23, 1941. Hollenbach joined Hope's English faculty at the advent of the Post-War enrollment boom. With World War II just ended, former members of the Armed Forces flooded the nation's colleges and universities on the GI Bill. From 555 during the 1941-42 school year, enrollment had declined to 312 by 1944-45. By 1946-47, enrollment had more than tripled to 1,300. He served as dean of the college from 1947 to 1955, and vice president from 1957 to 1965. In addition to his contributions in helping Hope manage its growth early in his service in administration, he was also active in curricular development at the college, playing a major role in a 1963 curriculum revision that yielded the college's current "Senior Seminar" program. He chaired the department of English from 1967 to 1973. From 1955 to 1957, he was dean of the faculty of arts and sciences at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. During 1965-66, he was a visiting professor at the American University of Beirut, and director of the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA) Junior Year in Beirut Program. During the summer of 1968, he was director of a Yugoslav-American Seminar in Yugoslavia, under a grant of the U.S. Office of Education and the Department of State. Hollenbach had served as chair of the GLCA Advisory Committee on Middle East Programs, a member of the GLCA Advisory Committee on Eastern European Studies and a member of the GLCA Faculty Council. In 1974, he was named an honorary member of the North Central Association (NCA) of Colleges, in recognition of his 25-year relationship with the organization. He had worked to enhance the NCA Commission on Research and Service, had coordinated the NCA Liberal Arts Study in the 1950s and had chaired the NCA Committee on Liberal Arts Education in the early 1960s. In addition to Winifred, survivors include two sons, David, a 1964 Hope graduate living in Oakland, Calif., and John, a 1968 Hope graduate living in Ada; and grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are being made by the Notier- Verlee-Langeland Funeral Chapel in Holland. The funeral service will be Thursday, April 23, at Hope Church, 77 West 11th Street, Holland. Visitation will follow the funeral service.